What would a mid-ranged PC (that could handle Fortnite) cost?

[Cassady]

Hello all.

The last time I looked at building a PC, Pentium 4’s were the shizzle, and a 256mb HDD was crazy storage space... As in, DVDs were only just becoming a thing....

Fast forward 30-odd years(?), and I now have a 10 year old son, who has started to realise the limitations of Fortnite on his iPad, and fully expects to be able to start his own YouTube channel soon... You know, coz it’s easy to print money as a YouTuber...

Dodgy parenting aside — please help an old noob: what should I start looking to spend? R10k? More? Anyone have a good place to start as an online resource to start getting me up to speed about what I need to start looking out for, in terms of a modern build? Or should I just walk into a PC store, and buy a pre-configured build?

Oh, and — just too muddy the waters — there is a part of me that is thinking: Just get the new PS5 (when it launches) , and no need to worry about constant updates, malware, viruses, Windows etc etc etc.

Any suggestions for this dad would be highly appreciated!

 

[SILTECH786]

Hi

Watch the forum from time to time some decent bargains to be found quite soon as people cycle to the generation of toys once his up and running please take him to maverick gaming centre so many youngsters get head hunted by esport teams on site also great enviro for him to socialise , this is of course if you reside within the joburg region.

 

[Spiritzz]

I wouldn't mind helping if you PMd me. For free, of course.

 

[solz]

I think you should be fine with a pc that's around the 6k mark and up. Look at getting something from the 8th Gen Intel and up or from the red team on their ryzen. Just make sure it's got a graphics card from 9th Gen Nvidia not lower then Gtx950. You can get older ones too like but thing power performance of the 950 with its price was great but can look at 1050 and up too...

 

[Bloubliksem]

Depends on what frame rates he wants and if high then you going to need a good monitor also.
I bought a pc here for 3k chucked in a rx 480 4gb( bought here for 1k) and it runs Fortnite fine, over 100fps.
But if he is going to play on controller, just get a PS5 or even a Ps4. Think if you go over 60fps then you dont get aim assist on controller anymore and that also make a huge difference as he also get aim assist on the Ipad

 

[aiccc]

Provided he is only playing fornite

CPU I5 3450 (ivy bridge or better) Quad core no H/T (3.1 GHZ with turbo to 3,5). Dual core will also be fine provided it is the newer ones.
16gb ram(DDR3). You can get by with 8gb.
GPU min gtx 960 2b or better)
min 1 TB hard disk
windows 10 os
screen minimum 24 inch. Recommend a dell 24 inch ast hey can be gotten new for less than R2000

Then the most important part. The keyboard and mouse. Look here for second hand one. The more you pay the better it is. He will want a good mouse pad aswell.

This is old specs but will play fornite well for a 10 year old. Any newer will be better. But this will save you some dosh.


Personally. I would go with a ddr4 intel platform. may a z170 board with a Pentium G840 or an i3 with 16gb of ram and a 512gb SSD hard drive and a AMD 570 4gb or better GPU with the same dell 24 inch monitor. This AMD gpu will do 75hz refresh rate.

Good luck.

 

[Cassady]

I mostly followed all of this!

Thanks for the advice all – will give me a very useful starting point, in terms of what to start looking for.

Also occurred to me that my fear of having to manage another machine would also serve as a good introduction to how PC's etc. work in general for my son – and a "learning opportunity" for him to take care of his own machine... The joys of updating and problem solving... Going to be a big adjustment for him from a tablet/iOS, where it's either on or off, but always works when on...

Will add any new questions here, as I start exploring further. Thanks again!

 

[Captain Tom]

and a "learning opportunity" for him to take care of his own machine

Yessss, get him a PC. When I was around 13 (I think) my parents got me my own PC. Sparked my love for tech and I'd say my whole career and a lot of my life has been based on that

 

[Shampoo1014]

I completely agree with @Captain Tom
I got my first PC when I was 10 and am now a massive nerd.
In all seriousness though, it's a great idea to get him into PCs because he will have a great understanding of tech as he grows up in an ever-changing tech world. Also; build it with him. The more HE builds it, the more he will appreciate it and understand how everything works and goes together.

I play Fortnite and can tell you that you don't need a monster system but it does help to have something _decent_.
My recommendations are the following:

CPU: i3-9100f (R1300)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus B365M Elite (R1500-2000 LINK)
RAM: 8-16GB DDR4 2133MHz (R800-1000)
Storage: 128GB/256GB/512GB M.2 for OS + Storage (R300/600/1000 or so)
GPU: GTX 1060 6GB (More than enough)/ GTX 1070 (Ideal)/RTX 2060 (Overkill) - (R1500/3500/3500)
PSU: Branded PSU such as EVGA, Corsair, Antec. 500W will be sufficient but aim for 700W or so for futureproofing a bit.
Monitor: Basically any FHD 24-27inch LED from Carb will work. There are some great deals out there.

Then it's just peripherals and for that I would suggest a Mechanical keyboard and the rest is personal preference. In general, I have found that Logitech is a solid brand that lasts ages, Corsair is great quality stuff, Razer is nice but a bit overpriced IMO, Steelseries is a great budget brand.

The majority of the stuff, you should be able to get off Carb. Chat to some of the resellers and they may be able to hook you up with a full system. @ScuBaLlama perhaps.